German Defense Minister Resigns Office Over Plagiarism

Karl-Theodore von Guttenberg (topnews.6z.ro)

The 39-year-old aristocratic German Foreign Minister Karl-Theodore zu Guttenberg has resigned office on Tuesday by a note he handed the Chancellor Angela Merkel as a result of plagiarism accusations related to his doctorate thesis.

It all started when he was accused that his thesis was inspired substantially from other sources.

Last week, the University of Bayreuth, where he completed a doctorate in law sciences stripped him of his title after the theft was proven and admitted.

At first, zu Guttenberg said he was going to look over the work again and admitted that the footnotes might have been loosely inserted, but that he never intentionally wanted to pass someone else’s work as his own.

Then, he changed his plea and said he was forced into copying because of the short term he had to prepare.

University of Bayreuth (easm2008.de)

The situation dragged on German media for weeks, bringing him nicknames like “Baron von Copy/Paste” or “von Googleberg.”

In an interview offered to N-TV he said that he did not resign only because of the thesis case, but also because he was beginning to doubt he could handle all he had on his shoulders.

Speaking of the timing, he said the moment was now because he wanted to go leaving behind a ministry that was still well organized.

He added that he felt it was time to leave because he had began the centre of attention, rather than allowing press to have focus on the German men and women loosing their lives in combat in Asia or anywhere else in the world.

Last year he announced the abolition of the compulsory military service in Germany, as one of many reforms in the German armed forces.

The resignation comes after the minister of education fell short of calling for it on Monday, when she reminded that intellectual theft was no small thing, but at a time when he was still counting on the support of his party and even the chancellor.

As the political situation gets more and more complicated for Angela Merkel, many saw in the young and proficient defense minister the next Chancellor of the most important country in the European Union.